This invention relates generally to a method of setting up and taking down a grandstand formed of a plurality of portable grandstand seating sections, and more particularly to such a method wherein each section may be quickly and effectively towed between storage and grandstand locations and shifted into place at the latter.
Seating sections for the forming of a grandstand, such as designed to accommodate seating for indoor and outdoor sports and entertainment events and facilities, have in the past been made portable to some extent to facilitate the setting up and the taking down of the grandstand. Wheels have been provided on such sections to facilitate arranging them in place at a motion picture studio, for example. However, the wheels are generally of the caster type allowing them to swivel while manipulating the sections into place. Also, grandstand sections have in the past been made into sub-sections to facilitate grandstand set up and take down operations, and grandstand sections have previously been transported between storage and grandstand locations on air dolleys, water dolleys, rails and by means of fork lifts.
The problem with all these prior approaches used in the setting up and taking down of a grandstand, is that the grandstand sections or sub-sections are so unwieldy and bulky that the time involved in properly setting them up and returning them to storage is quite significant from a cost standpoint. Because of the elevated rearward ends of typical grandstand sections, they cannot clear confined passageways and they cannot be readily piled on top of one another in storage, so that extra space which usually comes at a high premium at both indoor and outdoor stadium sites, must be found. And, those grandstand sections provided with caster wheels are extremely difficult to maneuver around on especially a soft outdoor surface, since the sections are typically wheeled from storage to the grandstand location by a fork lift track or the like and are roughly set into a predetermined position whereafter the sections must be side shifted into place. It can be appreciated that, during such side shifting of grandstand sections which are typically of massive size and weight, the casters only dig themselves into the soft ground as they are swivelled so that oftentimes gaps are left between adjacent grandstand sections thereby requiring fillers to be installed which is time-consuming and therefore costly. And, even on a hard indoor surface, it becomes difficult to side shift the sections precisely in place without the expenditure of undue effort and time. The use of rails and dolleys for transporting the sections between the storage and grandstand locations are likewise impractical since the heavy sections are difficult to side shift unless undue time and effort is expended and, even then, gaps are left between adjacent sections which must be filled thereby further increasing the time and expense of the operation.